Woodlawn stops Broadneck

January 01, 1994|By Rich Scherr | Rich Scherr,Contributing Writer

Woodlawn forward Guy Butler showed why he earned Most Valuable Player honors in the Wes Unseld Holiday Tournament during the first 10 minutes of yesterday's championship game against No. 13 Broadneck at Catonsville Community College.

The Warriors' 6-foot-7 enforcer scored 12 of his game-high 18 points in that span, powering No. 6 Woodlawn to a 22-16 lead.

From there, though, it was Woodlawn's little men who gave the Bruins their biggest headaches.

Six-foot Keion Carpenter and 5-foot-10 Steve Jackson combined for 25 points and 11 steals to lead the Warriors to a 52-46 win, giving them their second straight tournament crown.

"It's just all about hustle," said Carpenter, who had eight points and seven steals. "We wanted to work hard and set the tempo. We felt we had something to prove."

The Warriors (7-0) proved plenty, using a trapping defense to force 20 turnovers against a fundamentally sound Broadneck team. Woodlawn's constant pressure made the Bruins (5-1) scramble on offense, cutting short every attempt at a rally.

Forward Brian Stubbs, at 6-foot-1, led the defensive charge, holding Broadneck's Jason Smith -- who had scored 22 and 28 in the Bruins' two tournament wins -- to six points.

"I thought they did a very good job pressuring us and causing turnovers," said Broadneck coach Ken Kazmarek. "You can't turn the ball over against a team like that, especially when they're in a position to score."

But that happened often, as four backcourt turnovers led to three Woodlawn layups in the second quarter alone.

The other big difference in the game was Woodlawn's dominance on the boards. Led by Butler and center Emmanuel Adekunle, both 6-7, the Warriors held the Bruins to one shot on most possessions. At the other end, they often gave their team two, three or even four.

In the first half, rebounding helped give the Warriors a 39-15 advantage in shots, though they led by only five, 27-22, at the break.

The Bruins kept it close throughout, using defensive pressure of their own to slow the run-and-gun Warriors to a crawl.

Keying on Butler after the break, Broadneck kept the Warriors' big men out of the game for much of the second half, holding them without a point or rebound for over six minutes in the third quarter.

"We take a lot of pride in our defense," said Kazmarek. "We're not a team that can take on anybody individually. We have to play as a team, and I think we did that very well."

Offensively, forward Kola-Peba Kalemba paced the Bruins early with 10 points in the first quarter, then, later in the game, forward Sean Ryan stepped to the forefront with eight points in the final 3:36.

Broadneck never trailed by more than 10 -- twice in the second half -- and got as close as five several times down the stretch.

But in the end, it was Woodlawn's little men who won out, stealing away any chance for a Bruins upset.

Said Woodlawn coach Rod Norris: "Jackson, Stubbs and Carpenter do a fantastic job of pressuring the ball and denying.